Originally Posted by Jeff Seaman, Mustang powertrain engineer
Is the TracKey 50 state legal?
The TracKey passes emissions, is 50 state legal, and will have an EO, which means it’s legal for sale and passes emissions. That’s the only tradeoff that we didn’t make for the car.
What’s the process for Boss 302 customers to get a TracKey?
When you purchase the car you have two keys – a black key and a red key. Both keys run the exact same calibration until, after point of sale, you go to a Ford Racing dealer and they re-flash your powertrain control module. When they do that, they learn the red key to be track mode, and the grey key remains base mode. Once you purchase this from Ford Racing, you have a unique calibration for track mode and base mode.
How close is the TracKey calibration to the one for the Boss 302R?
The Boss 302R is not an emissions legal calibration, so we took that as a base, and we applied what lessons we learned – what works well in this car – to make it a racetrack-ready calibration.
About how many parameters have been changed?
When we originally started off and wrote the first press release we had a great calibration setup. We had about 200 parameters, and we ran with that number. Well, like any skunkworks operation, we never stopped thinking, we never stopped developing. When we got to the actual first evaluation of it, it was close to 300. Now it’s close to 400. What we’ve fundamentally changed are the launch control RPM limiting, which was quite significant, and a significant amount of refinement to the lopey idle to make it a robust calibration.
Are there any changes to the power delivery, such as the torque curve?
Absolutely. From an advertisement standpoint, we are not going to say that the TracKey gets you anything more than the base key. You’re welcome to go find out for yourself – it’s just the flip of a key. The low end torque is improved substantially, again making tradeoffs for basic drivability in order to deliver performance at all cost.
Is premium fuel required?
With the Boss 302 you can run on regular fuel, although premium is recommended. The TracKey is premium only.
Will there be further developments to the TracKey?
We never stop developing this car. The truth is, the TracKey will be on sale through a Ford Racing dealer soon, but we view this as a beginning.
Does this mean that software updates could be available later on?
That sounds like a great idea! We view TracKey as revolutionary. It’s really a change of anything that anybody offers. Nobody else offers the ability to run two independent calibrations on a car. You can easily sit down and come up with 50 or 60 different applications for how you would do it in the future, what content you would include and how you would tie it into additional systems. All of that is part of the skunkworks operation that will continue churning as long as there are creative, hardcore engineering folks at Ford.
What do you think the take rate will be?
Based on the feedback I’ve had so far, I’d be surprised if anybody wouldn’t want a TracKey.
Is there a reason you chose red to represent the TracKey?
That was sort of an inside joke that came from our chief engineer. There’s a movie reference in there. You’ve got the black key, and you’ve got the red key. You can be happy with the black key, or you can take the red key and maybe you won’t go back, but there’s time to walk away!
Do you consider the TracKey fairly usable for daily driving?
It really depends on what you want. My son loves the red key, but my wife won’t drive with it. There are times when lopey idle is a fun thing, and there are other times like when you are going to pick your dry cleaning up when you think “this isn’t for me.”
One last question – how much will the TracKey cost?
$302.
